After publishing our lab test of the Sony FX9 using the internal XAVC Intra codec in September 2020 here, new firmware versions were announced by Sony. Also, the option to output RAW from the Sony FX9 became possible using the XDCA-FX9 extension unit and the Atomos Shogun 7 recorder – enough reasons for us to have a second look! Interested? Read on… The XDCA-FX9 extension unit allows Sony FX9 users to output a 16-bit linear RAW signal – which sounds great, but to the best of our knowledge no recorder is available on the market which can record this signal. However, the Atomos Shogun 7 accepts this 16 bit linear RAW signal and converts it into 12bit RAW, thereby allowing the recording of ProRes RAW HQ files. Sony FX9 with RAW extension unit and Atomos Shogun 7 recorder. Image credit: CineD Hence, we were quite curious to see if a better performance in terms of latitude and dynamic range can be squeezed out of the Sony FX9 sensor using this combo. A 6K sensor shooting RAW in 4K? The Sony FX9 features a 6K sensor, but the full sensor RAW output with the XDCA-FX9 extension unit has a resolution of 4128×2192 – a bit more than 4K DCI. So obviously, some image processing / downsampling is happening before the RAW stream is made available. How to deal with the ProRes RAW files in Post-production? Well, so far DaVinci Resolve does not support ProRes RAW files (hopefully in the future), so...
Published By: CineD - Friday, 26 February, 2021